Sgt Sam Gowin of 16 Regiment Royal Artillery will represent England in the Commonwealth Games 2018. The Gold Coast awaits but in the meantime we caught up with him to talk about how he became an elite sportsman for the Royal Artillery.
The regiment has allowed me the opportunity and the time to be the best I can be. If you grab opportunities and work hard this is what you can achieve!
Why: My motto is Just Do It - why not......
Spare time: Shoot! It is a way of life, if you want to succeed.......
The Dream: A Medal.....
The Aim: The Olympics 2020.....
The Competition: Rapid Fire Pistol is a dynamic Olympic pistol event. Athletes must show speed and accuracy on demand.
The shoot comprises of 60 scoring shots Split over two courses of 30 scoring shots each. A Rapid Fire Pistol shooter only has five sighting shots per course. During a half course you will receive 2 × 8 second exposures, 2 × 6 second exposures and 2 x 4 second exposures. You are to start from the ready position (arm and pistol pointing 45° to the ground), come up onto the targets and engage all five targets in those given times. Highest scoring shots are those that are closest to the middle of each target.
In competition the top 6 scorers will qualify for the finals match. This is a knockout tournament where each athlete must engage their 5 targets in four seconds, when it is their turn.
The finals are scored differently, on the target, 9.7 and above is classed as a hit, anything below is classed as a miss. The person with the highest amount of hits wins the complete Rapid Fire match.
Therefore, you could qualify for the finals in sixth place yet still have a chance to win the competition.
The Royal Artillery would like to wish Sam the best of luck and look forward to following his journey over the next couple of months.